during the car ride home, salem was sobbing. she couldn't help but to be emotional, and was not only crying about ciarán, but a dead raccoon she saw on the side of the road too.
"we're never letting you drink again." tavia shook her head, looking over at salem.
"that poor raccoon didn't even see it coming, tav! it was probably scavenging to feed its family and a fucking car hits it!" after she was done mourning it, she cried even more.
tavia sighed, "can we go back to talking about ciarán? i feel like you'd be crying less."
she sniffled, "you're right. i miss ciarán, but i miss the raccoon even more."
"sae, you didn't even know the raccoon."
"but—"
tavia put a finger over her lips to shush her, "it's in raccoon heaven now, okay? can we please talk about ciarán?"
"why are you so obsessed with ciarán? are you trying to steal him from me?" her mood changed again, and she got defensive.
tavia snorted, "i don't want him, i have matt."
"oh yeah." salem said in realization. "my bad."
"no wonder why ciarán told me to take you home." she murmured under her breath. "why do you think ciarán hates you?" salem had kept telling tavia 'he hates me' and never actually told her what had happened.
"i told him i wanted him, and he kissed me, but then he pulled away! i don't think he feels the same way." salem pouted.
"when did you get so bold?" tavia chuckled.
"it's the wine that's talking." salem clasped her fingers together behind her head, resting it against the headrest. she crossed her legs and kicked them up onto the dashboard.
"ciarán still cares about you, that's probably why he stopped kissing you. he didn't want to take advantage of you."
salem let out an elongated 'ohh.' she suddenly had a smug smile on her face, "he could've kept going, i don't think sober salem would mind."
"oh i bet she would."
kevin 🌟: are u home yet?
salem 🌙: no
kevin 🌟: can we facetime when u get home?
salem 🌙: im gon pass out when i gte home
salem 🌙: tmrrw ??
kevin 🌟: that's fine with me !! :)
kevin 🌟: hope u get a good night's rest 💙
salem 🌙: ty
"kevin's so sweet." salem hummed, closing her eyes.
"if you fall asleep, i'm not carrying you up to our apartment. you're gonna wake up mad confused in my car." tavia said sternly, which caused salem to groan.
"you think anyone would care if i took my heels off and walked around shoeless?" salem asked, having the sudden urge to take them off.
"yes." tavia said as she pulled into a parking spot.
salem groaned once more when tavia was done parking, knowing she had to walk soon. "i can do this." she told herself before opening the passenger seat door and stepping out. "fuck, no i can't." she said, almost stumbling.
"c'mon." tavia sighed, putting salem's arm around her shoulders.
salem leaned onto tavia for support, and the two discreetly walked up to their apartment. luckily for them, it was kind of late and no one seemed to be out wandering around.
"praise god, hallelujah!" salem exclaimed as she walked into the apartment, finally being able to take off her shoes.
she walked awkwardly to her room, not used to walking barefoot after enduring the pain of the heels.
although she was tired, she was still responsible enough to take off her makeup. once she threw the makeup remover wipe away, she stripped down to her underwear and flopped onto her bed.
she didn't fall asleep immediately as she had hoped, but instead, started shedding a few tears. she didn't even know why she was crying. it was as if she had been suddenly engulfed in a wave of melancholy.
'i'm never drinking again.' was the last thought she had before passing out.
when she woke up, her face felt tight and puffy. she kicked the covers off of her and sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. she felt her face, feeling the streaks of dry tears on her cheeks.
she stood up, and to her surprise, did it successfully. although her legs shook slightly, she was able to stabilize herself. her headache was a slight pounding sensation in her skull, but it was nothing she couldn't handle.
"holy shit." she mumbled to herself as she looked in the mirror. she looked just as bad as she felt.
she started a shower as she examined herself in the mirror. she had dark circles under her eyes, which was normal, but for some reason, they looked worse. she blew a raspberry before deciding to brush her teeth.
she stripped down completely and stepped into the shower, hoping if she stayed in there long enough, all of her problems would go away.
while she was scrubbing body wash all over herself, she realized she still needed to facetime kevin. she quickly finished the rest of her shower routine before stepping out into the bathroom and texting kevin.
salem 🌙: are u busy rn
kevin 🌟: nope
salem 🌙: facetime me
kevin called her while she was putting her hair up in a towel.
"good morning." kevin said, to which salem reciprocated the greeting. "how you feeling?"
"not as bad as i thought i would, honestly."
"i checked up on ciarán, and he told me about what happened last night." kevin said lowly, since his room was adjacent to ciarán's.
salem groaned, faintly remembering what she said. "i shouldn't have drank that wine. the only reason why i got it was to prove a point."
"at least it got you to confess something to ciarán. he needed it."
salem tilted her head curiously. "what do you mean by that?"
"he needed to be reassured that you actually wanted to be with him."
"of course i wanna be with him!" salem exclaimed.
she made it so obvious, or at least she thought she did. did her previous actions say otherwise? she never meant to hurt ciarán's feelings; actually, she never meant for all this to happen, but it did.
ciarán wasn't just a pretend rebound anymore, and she would go to any length to prove just that.
